As executive external strategy and communications leader, Gretchen Baier is responsible for monitoring for disruptive technologies, applying for external awards that recognize Dow products or researchers, and being the Research and Development liaison to Dow’s sustainability goals. Previously, she was associate research and development director of external technology, leading a group responsible for creating strategic external collaborations. Earlier she was a technical leader in Ventures and New Business Development and a chemical engineer in the Process Optimization group and the Process Separations Skill Center.

She is on the Visiting Committee for Chemical Engineering at MIT, and the Advisory Board for the MIT Practice School. Other recent responsibilities have included chair of the Advisory Board for the Department of Energy Critical Materials Institute and co-chair of the UIDP Project Committee. She has held Board positions for ASTRA and the Council of Chemical Research and is a member of the Industrial Research Institute’s External Technology Network.

Prior to joining Dow, Baier was a process engineer at Dow Corning Corporation and later at Shell Oil Company. She earned a bachelor’s in chemical engineering from MIT and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.